How to Run Two Guitar Amps With an Effects Loop

Effects pedals are fun to play with.

For many electric guitarists, half the fun of playing the instrument is experimenting with guitar effects pedals, which you can use to alter the tone of the guitar dramatically. In the movie "It Might Get Loud," U2 guitarist The Edge shows how he uses effects to create a huge sound from two chords on the song "Elevation." With the importance an amplifier has on a guitar's tone, many guitarists like to use an effects loop so that they can get both a dry tone and an effected tone from the amp. When running amps in stereo, this presents challenges.

Things You'll Need

• 5 long instrument cables
• 1 short instrument cable
• Effects pedals with effects pedals cables
• A/B 1-to-2 splitter box (or 1 effects pedal that has a stereo send output)

Instructions

1. Plug an instrument cable into the guitar and plug the other end of the cable into the main input of the guitar amplifier.

2. Run a second instrument cable from the effects loops send on Amp A to the main input on the second amp, or Amp B.

3. Plug another instrument cable from the effects send on Amp B to the input of the first effects pedal in the effects pedal chain.

4. Plug the short instrument cable into the output of the last effects pedal and into the input of the splitter box.

5. Run the last two cables from the outputs of the splitter box into the return jacks on Amps A and B. Alternately, if you have an effects pedal that has a stereo send, you can forgo the splitter box and plug the outputs from the stereo effects send to the return jacks on Amp A and B.

Tips & Warnings

• This setup allows you to keep a dry tone on both amps and an effects tone on both amps. Some players prefer to have one amp that is totally dry and one amp that is only effected. To do this, run the send from Amp A to the input on the first effects pedal and then run another cable from the output of the last effects pedal to the main input on Amp B.

References

• Line 6: Splitting Effects Loop
• Guitar FAQ: What Is an Effects Loop?